The Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, has urged Federal Government to review its Automotive Policy to check irregularities by vehicle manufacturers in the country.
Uzodinma made the call when he visited Kewalram Chanrai Group Automobiles in Lagos on Thursday.
He said that review of the policy would enhance the industry’s contribution to the national economy, especially in transportation of people and goods.
The lawmaker said that the visit was part of the committee’s investigation of activities of automobile firms to find out whether the policy was implemented or not.
He explained that the essence of the policy was to subsidise production activities in Nigeria to encourage local manufacturing of products.
“Suddenly, people are taking advantage of that good intention of government and have abused the policy,” he said.
He decried that the automobile company was more of “an empty warehouse” rather than an assembly plant.
“They are bringing these goods as either Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) or Completely-Knocked Down (CKD).
“The little revenue that government would have collected through Customs is lost by these practices,” he said.
On his part, Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Zone A, Lagos, Mr Aminu Dahiru, said that the duty of Customs was to implement import and export policies and not the automotive policy.
“Our follow-up on the implementation of the automotive policy is very limited,” Dahiru said
